Zeroh, Chapter 1: A Fresh Start

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Hi, I'm Zeroh, one of the guild leaders for the Rebels! For those that don't know me, here's a short bio:

I grew up playing D&D, board games, card games, video games, and computer games. Nowadays, I mostly stick to video games (Mass Effect, Borderlands, and Fallout being current favorites). I also grew up with anime, but I don't watch it nearly as much as I used to. It's also been years since I've been to a con. One day that will change.

I'm thirty, non-binary (gender, they/them pronouns), asexual, and pagan. I live with my two cats, my wife, and her partner (who is visiting for the next couple months). I've been a vegetarian since 2015, and struggle with disordered eating. I take anti-depressants, and regularly see a therapist. Aside from depression, I have really bad social anxiety. I'm possibly on the autistic spectrum, but haven't gone through the testing yet. I also have a lot of issues with focus and concentration, but not caused by ADHD (I went through testing for it).

I enjoy bodyweight workouts and avoid gyms for numerous reasons. But I've found a lovely playground (with monkey bars!) about a mile from where I live, so I go there to train. Weather permitting. I also love hiking, as long as it doesn't involve sleeping outside. Most of my hiking time is also spent taking pictures. I recently started selling prints of my photos, so a good chunk of my time is spent trying to get that off the ground. Aside from hiking, I volunteer at one of the local parks, where I mostly help with "trail" maintenance. In the future I'd like to get into snowboarding and parkour.

This new year is going to bring a lot of changes into my life. So I sat down and spent a bit of time trying to figure out what exactly I want to do. And how to go about doing it. And searching for motivation. I have the big picture motivation, but I need something more immediate to help push me along. And to make things complicated, some kind of theme for the year.

And so, 2018 will be the year of Guidance. I'm borrowing from the idea of animal totems (animal spirits/spirit guides). More specifically, the idea that they reflect the traits you currently possess, and the ones you need to work on. And the ones I need to work on, tie in with my goals. I won't bore anyone with the specifics.

Here is my first challenge of the year:

(original version)

(Screenshot of my spreadsheet, for this challenge Week 0 is actually Week 1. Hopefully that won't be too confusing. The second to last column tells me how many I can miss and still get a reward. The last column tells me how many I can miss and still pass.)

Guide One: Wolf

I need to work on my physical strength. I had to step back from exercising due to a shoulder injury, which has since healed. But I haven't gotten back into the habit of exercising. So there are two goals here. First, do the Daily Dare four times a week. Second, do one proper bodyweight workout a week.

Guide Two: Toad

I need to work on my inner strength. The main goal is to keep on top of any therapy stuff I have to work on, if I'm given any. I might get a referral to a specialist for my eating, but I don't really know what that will look like. Can't really grade that. But I have two goals that I can grade. First, post an update on NF six times a week. Second, check-in on people on NF six times a week.

Guide Three: Peacock

I need to work on my physical self-care. My first goal here is to stay on top of my skin care to control my eczema six days a week. Second, I need to stay hydrated five days a week. These are both continuations from my previous challenge. And third, brush AND floss three times a week (plus mouthwash once I have a chance to buy more).

Guide Four: Wasp

I need to work on my productivity and organization. This is largely related to my photography business. But it's also about getting my home more organized. So first, I need to make a post on my photography Instagram account five times a week. And second, I need to check off four things from my to do list each week. This will be a combination of photography stuff, and continuing my minimizing goal from last challenge. Less stuff = much easier to organize. Once I have the list written down I'll post it in this thread. This has been divided into three goals. First, don't hit the snooze button five days out of the week!* I've had a lot of success with this goal in the past. But with all of the cold weather, it's been getting harder and harder to get up from my nice, warm bed. Secondly, I'll be trying out the app from Unfuck Your Habitat. The goal is to do three challenges a week.* And third, cross off five items from my To-Do list.

*These are four week goals, starting on January 8th.

Grading & Rewards

50% is a passing grade. If I get 75% in an individual goal, I get a reward for that goal. And if I get 90% overall, I also get a bigger & better reward. I'm still finalizing the reward selection, so that will be posted once I nail it down.

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Hello! I have sheepishly returned and will of course be following. Did you make a new instagram account? I was following you before but I haven't seen you post in a while, and instagram keeps suggesting I follow someone who I thought looked like you...which confused me since I thought I was already following you.

I love the animal totem theme too. It gives the categories a sort of personality, or rather a really visceral way of picturing the type of goals they represent. Good luck on getting the photography business moving. Extra money from side gigs like that can add up.

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Hello! I have sheepishly returned and will of course be following. Did you make a new instagram account? I was following you before but I haven't seen you post in a while, and instagram keeps suggesting I follow someone who I thought looked like you...which confused me since I thought I was already following you.

Welcome back!

I actually have four instagram accounts now. But I've only really been posting on the photography one.

I love the animal totem theme too. It gives the categories a sort of personality, or rather a really visceral way of picturing the type of goals they represent. Good luck on getting the photography business moving. Extra money from side gigs like that can add up.

Thanks!

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Originally, we were going to see the new Star Wars movie (and eat brunch/lunch somewhere if we could find a decent place open on New Year's Day) as a delayed anniversary celebration. But then my wife had issues with her partner, and she wasn't sure if it would be a good idea to leave her alone (it wouldn't), and THEN I looked at the weather forecast... Wind chill advisory until 9am, with wind chills that could "cause frostbite in as little as 30 minutes". Yeah, nope, we rescheduled (waiting for a bus around here can easily take twice that long). Again. (The first rescheduling was because it was cold on our anniversary day, so I wasn't too motivated to wake her up when she slept in, and I didn't want to be out after it got dark. Because of what happened last year on our anniversary*... So we rescheduled tentatively to Saturday, and she slept in again and I found out that it's cheaper to go on Mondays, so I didn't really make an effort to wake her up. So rescheduled to tomorrow. And now it's just up in the air. Which is fine because I don't actually care when we go as long as we do get to go while the movie is still out. And I don't turn into a popsicle in the process. And not turning into a popsicle is more important than seeing the movie.)

So now the plan is to weigh myself, and then hide under my comforter all morning. And maybe all afternoon... And possibly write out that to-do list, while hiding under my comforter with my laptop. And nice hot tea.

Today was a mix of lounging around in bed, and getting super frustrated at a visa gift card that refused to work online. My wife proposed that we order the food we were going to have for our outing, and nice enough idea. But the money I have to cover the brunch and movie is on this gift card that came as a holiday gift from my grandma. And it's the only way I can afford all of this. But when we go to order the food online, the card isn't accepted. Figured out that you have to register a zip code with the card to use it online. So did that. But it still refuses to work. :/

Tomorrow will be a high anxiety day, and I'm not looking forward to it. There's therapy, where we'll talk about my eating, and maybe a referral. And there's waiting for a reply from the post office about my missing package... yay...

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Today was a mix of lounging around in bed, and getting super frustrated at a visa gift card that refused to work online. My wife proposed that we order the food we were going to have for our outing, and nice enough idea. But the money I have to cover the brunch and movie is on this gift card that came as a holiday gift from my grandma. And it's the only way I can afford all of this. But when we go to order the food online, the card isn't accepted. Figured out that you have to register a zip code with the card to use it online. So did that. But it still refuses to work. :/

A lot of online vendors don't take prepaid Visa gift cards, because they don't meet all the security verification requirements that a payment card that is owned by a person can meet (owner's billing address on file with the company that issued it, for example), have you checked if that's why the card isn't working?

Also worth to reach out to customer service for the company that issued the card and find out from them if there is an extra activation step.

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A lot of online vendors don't take prepaid Visa gift cards, because they don't meet all the security verification requirements that a payment card that is owned by a person can meet (owner's billing address on file with the company that issued it, for example), have you checked if that's why the card isn't working?

Also worth to reach out to customer service for the company that issued the card and find out from them if there is an extra activation step.

I went pretty thoroughly through the company's website, and it said in the FAQ that all you had to do was register a zip code to get it to work online (and at the gas pump, but that doesn't really apply to me). No extra steps. The card is activated when it's loaded. Either it takes time for the change to actually register, or it's because it can't match a complete address (and/or name). And of course they aren't going to put on their website that it probably won't actually work because they don't let you register an actual address or name. That would be bad for business. From poking around google, it sounds like their customer service is pretty useless. The card does have the money on it, so as long as it works off line it's not a problem.

1 hour ago, Bean Sidhe said:

*Hugs* Hopefully you were able to get a bit of quiet time with your wife. And I hope you either got the card to work, or you managed to find some time together.

Oh, ordering the food yesterday was never going to be about spending time together. My wife just wants Chinese food. Her partner was also going to get food (and pay me back since you couldn't do multiple payment options), so they would of just eaten in the bedroom.

(To be clear, my wife tends to be clingy and overbearing when all of her attention is directed at me, and I like to have a lot of breathing room, so I'm fine with not spending much time together.)

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I suddenly have a job interview tomorrow for a job that I wasn't really trying to get. Long story short, I had to apply to three jobs on Saturday cause the unemployment office said so at the last minute, even though I'm not actually required to do the work search. (You can get benefits during a temporary reduction in hours. And as long as it's for 10 weeks or less you aren't required to do the work search.) So I found three job openings that I'm more or less qualified for and just sent them the same resume, no cover letters (they also didn't ask for cover letters).

Totally not prepared for this... o_o

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I suddenly have a job interview tomorrow for a job that I wasn't really trying to get. Long story short, I had to apply to three jobs on Saturday cause the unemployment office said so at the last minute, even though I'm not actually required to do the work search. (You can get benefits during a temporary reduction in hours. And as long as it's for 10 weeks or less you aren't required to do the work search.) So I found three job openings that I'm more or less qualified for and just sent them the same resume, no cover letters (they also didn't ask for cover letters).

Totally not prepared for this... o_o

Good luck!

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I suddenly have a job interview tomorrow for a job that I wasn't really trying to get. Long story short, I had to apply to three jobs on Saturday cause the unemployment office said so at the last minute, even though I'm not actually required to do the work search. (You can get benefits during a temporary reduction in hours. And as long as it's for 10 weeks or less you aren't required to do the work search.) So I found three job openings that I'm more or less qualified for and just sent them the same resume, no cover letters (they also didn't ask for cover letters).

Totally not prepared for this... o_o

Is it a job you'd take if you got it? Like, money/benefits/commute are worth it and you could quit your current shitty job? Then good luck and go kill it. If not but you're just going through the motions, treat it as a practice interview and don't stress too much.

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Is it a job you'd take if you got it? Like, money/benefits/commute are worth it and you could quit your current shitty job? Then good luck and go kill it. If not but you're just going through the motions, treat it as a practice interview and don't stress too much.

I'd take it. It's a cool place. But looking over the job description again, there would be a pretty steep learning curve if I did manage to get it...

Most of the stress is from "I got a reply?" and "they want an interview tomorrow???" It's sudden and unexpected. And I have no idea what this person's name is... >_<